Swipe Your Credit Card! No Purchase Necessary.

Happy Monday, crafting friends!

This project uses the super popular Distress Oxide Inks, and a fun background technique using a credit or other plastic (hotel) card.

My background was made using the "Swipe Your Credit Card" technique from Splitcoast. I let it dry and then used an alphabet stencil from Dylusions, sponging through the stencil until I got the depth of color I wanted (dark in some spots, lighter in others). 

My sentiment, fish and balloons are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Birthday Pals. I watercolored my fish with the Distress Oxide inks. I added a layer of dry embossed "water" for my fish using a Stampin' Up! embossing folder and my Big Shot,  and added some bling for the fish bubbles. I added some ombre DSP for the back panel base. A few Star Dust Stickles for her fins finished it off.

I like the mixed media look, and this was an easy way to achieve that! 

Stamps: Birthday Pals (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: Heavyweight Cream (HL), Blue Raspberry (Poptone), Felicity DSP (Glitz)

Paper Size: 5.5 SQ

Ink: Distress Oxide Inks, VersaFine Onyx Black

Accessories: rhinestones, Seaside EF (SU!), Star Dust Stickles, Birthday Pals and Speech Bubble dies (retired SNSS), alphabet stencil (Dylusions)

• Dragonfly Dreams - Animals
• Fashionable Stamping - Use your Inks
• Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Goes
• Penny Black and More – Creatures 
• Pile It On - Recycle and/or For a Child
• We Love 2 Create - Always Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Hey Friend!

I adore this bird. Her name is Magnolia and she is part of a set of digital images from Vera Lane. I haven't worked with digi images in awhile, and have forgotten how fun it is to make them whatever size you want! So I went a little crazy and purchased a few of Janet's images for future use. Magnolia also has a purse, but she is a little busy holding her balloon and heart for her friend. 

I colored with Copic markers, added a little wood heart and sentiment (SU!) and some cute patterned paper from MME. Her shoes were the prettiest pink, and then I added Gold Wink of Stella, and they turned brown. Sparkly IRL, but I was disappointed in the color. Should have used my Clear! Oh well!

Sending prayers to all my Texas and Louisiana friends for safety this weekend!

• Addicted to CAS - Friends
• Di's Digis Designs - Bright Colours
• Send a Smile for Kids - Clean and Simple 
• SSS Work it Wednesday 

My Monochromatic "Best"

Hey everyone! 
Today I am sharing a monochromatic card using just one shade of ink - All That Jazz (Catherine Pooler).

It matches perfectly to the SU! Island Indigo cardstock. I stamped off some of the flowers (Stamp of Approval Naturally Inspired) and the script to give a different depth of ink color, and then sponged along the bottom to ground the flowers. I added tiny little turquoise rhinestones to the flower centers for some sparkle. So little stress when you don't have to figure out what colors to use!

A pretty one layer, flat, mailable design! 

• CAS on Friday – One Layer Wonder
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes 
• Moving along with the Times - Things beginning with "B" (Best)

Tutorial - Ribbon Embossing

Recently, I hosted the Splitcoaststampers Technique Challenge, using one of the SCS Tutorials my sweet friend Dina whipped up -- Embossed Ribbon. It's such a fun idea! You can find the detailed instructions and a video HERE. 

Basically, it involves misting your ribbon with water, running it through your Big Shot (or whatever machine you have) with an embossing folder, and allowing it to dry. Depending on the texture of your ribbon, and the embossed pattern, you can end up with a subtle or bold pattern. For my card, I chose a subtle pattern.

If you look closely, you can see the cross hatch pattern of my embossing folder (Sizzix). I chose the beautiful Double-faced Ivory Satin from Really Reasonable Ribbon. It adds such an elegant feel to any project! This is the 7/8" ribbon. My card measures approximately 5x5.5 inches. The stamps are from Remarkable You by Stampin' Up - a set I have been wanting forever and just recently acquired. I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, and then colored with my Copic markers. I fussy cut the flowers and leaves. The sentiment is stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black - I prefer that for crisp, sentiments, and since I am not adding color, don't have to worry about it running (just smearing before it's dry! Been there!). I added a wood heart to bring everything together.

There is a new challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon and it's Anything Goes! This is my DT sample for that challenge! Come play along with us! My teamies have made some gorgeous projects to inspire you! I hope you will try this technique on your project!

August Hop With Really Reasonable Ribbon

Welcome to the August Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop! If you arrived here from Ginny's blog, you are in the right place! If you just happened along, be sure to start at the beginning at the RRR Blog (I am the third stop this month, so you don't have far back to go!) so you don't miss out on the awesome projects, fun news, and a prize from Really Reasonable Ribbon! Our hop goes live at 6:30 AM Central.

Each 13th of the month it's the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog hop where we highlight the Ribbon Club! Take a look at this month's gorgeous Autumn Harvest ribbon club package:

If you really love ribbon and would like to have a wonderful assortment of ribbons sent to you automatically each month, just join the Really Reasonable Ribbon Club! Monthly ribbon club assortments are selected and pre-packed to reflect a specific theme, color, or holiday season. 

My card today is made with all of the ribbons and trims in this month's club, plus a couple of other fall themed ribbons from RRR.

I cut different lengths of ribbons at an angle and adhered them to my solid designer paper piece. After cutting my double word die (My Favorite Things Stamps), I added a length of the crochet lace in this month's package, and added two brown Mulberry Leaves and a White Cosmos Daisy for embellishment. All of my layers are held together with Scor-Tape and Tombow 3D Tabs. 

Thank you for stopping by and for your sweet comments! Now off to Cheryl's blog, to see her pretty creation and beautiful bows!

Relax! It's Time For A New Challenge!

There is a new challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon today -- and it's Anything Goes! Come play along with us! The heat has been so HOT and it puts everyone on edge around here - so I decided to make a card that would remind me to chill out! :)

I used 3/8" Hot Pink Diamond Satin Ribbon for my wrap around bow, and finished off my textured button (doesn't it look like that background paper?) with a little strand of Teal Baker's Twine. All of my layers are held together with Scor-Tape. The flamingo, flower, and sentiment are all from my chipboard stash. A quick card to put together!

Challenges:

• Crafting With An Attitude - Always Anything Goes
• Southern Girls - #164 Tic Tac Toe (Ribbon, Image, Flower)
• Cute Card Thursday - #487 Summer Colours
• Through the Purple Haze - #129 Anything With Wings
• If You Gave A Crafter A Cookie... - #73 Photo Inspiration*
  

Birthday Best

Today I want to share a CAS design using some of my Catherine Pooler stamps from the June Stamp of Approval box.

All of the words are individual stamps, and I decided to arrange them in a fun design using all of the colors of the foliage. The striped paper adds a little pizazz to the front, and to the inside of the card.

A quick and fun birthday greeting that is flat and easy to mail!

Challenges:

• A Snowflakes Promise - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiment Designs - Clean and Simple or Fussy and Fancy Challenge
• Creates and Makes - Anything Goes with a optional: Create a Sentiment
• Inky Chicks - Sentiment
• Lemon Shortbread - Always Anything Goes
• Through The Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes

Hopping in July with Really Reasonable Ribbon

Welcome to the July Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop! If you arrived here from Ginny's blog, you are in the right place! If you just happened along, be sure to start at the beginning at the RRR Blog (I am the third stop this month, so you don't have far back to go!) so you don't miss out on the awesome projects, fun news, and a prize from Really Reasonable Ribbon! Our hop goes live at 6:30 AM Central.

Each 13th of the month it's the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog hop where we highlight the Ribbon Club! Take a look at this month's ribbon club package.

If you really love ribbon and would like to have a wonderful assortment of ribbons sent to you automatically each month, just join the Really Reasonable Ribbon Club! Monthly ribbon club assortments are selected and pre-packed to reflect a specific theme, color, or holiday season. 

My card today is made with some adorable designer paper from The Paper Studio and one of the beautiful ribbons from this month's club.

I wrapped a length of Double Faced Satin Apple Green and Hyacinth Checkerboard Satin in this month's club assortment, and then tied a double bow and added a button (Basic Grey) with Lemon Baker's Twine.

 
The inside finishes the card with a cute sentiment from The {Stamps} of Life. All of my layers are held together with Scor-Tape and Tombow 3D Tabs.

Thank you for buzzing by and for your sweet comments! Now off to Cheryl's blog, to see her pretty creation and beautiful bows!

A Mini Junk Journal

Today I want to share several pages of my Junk Journal that I recently completed. This is a ring bound journal that is reinforced by double cardstock/cardboard on each page, so it is quite sturdy.  Different from the pages you might find in a regular junk journal, which are usually copy paper weight before adding any embellishments and sewn in as "signatures." While I won't be showing all of the page spreads, I will be sharing some of my favorites - and some without ribbon or trim.

Most all of my pages are from a digital kit by Tsunami Rose Designs called Life Abloom. The cover is wrapped with ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon: Silky Crush Rose Ribbon, and two large Silky Crush Champagne bows are tied on the outer rings (this journal's "binding"). This is one of my favorite ribbons to work with. It's very slightly stiff, and holds up beautifully to "reworking" when you want to get it just right.

The Prima flower is very sparkly, as it is full of beautiful glitter.

You can see on the next two pages the inside cover, where I also wrapped the Silky Crush Rose Ribbon to match the cover. Keep in mind that these are two separate pages, both printed on copy paper, then attached to their own Kraft Cardstock, and then adhered to each other back to back. So double the weight of a card with embellishments. The rose color in the ribbon matched the color of the digital kit exactly. On the first page of the journal, I added some White Flat Back Pearls with glue dots.

I liked the designs on these pages so much that I didn't cover them up with a lot of "stuff," like I might in another junk journal. On the righthand side of this spread, I attached a length of Rosemary Natural Crochet Lace down the entire page. I thought it fit so well with the design of the doily.

I added the Rosemary Lace on my glassine bag that holds a postcard in this spread. All of the edges of my pages are sponged with Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

The little "woodgrain" envelope on the left of these pages isn't attached, and can move back and forth as an add-in to hold ticket stubs or a little note. The Rosemary Lace on the right is holding the two removable cards for notes or just for decoration.

On these two music themed pages, I changed up the trims, with Soapstone Seam Binding on the left and Chloe Crochet Lace on the right. The seam binding looks a little green in this photo, but Soapstone is kind of a magic color. Since it's close to the green leaves from the roses, it picks up some of those hues as well. My flower is made from an old hymnal I have for papercrafting purposes.

Here is a close up of the Chloe Lace down the side of this page.

These are two of my favorite pages. I had the wooden letters left over from a project from years ago, and finally was able to use them! The Soapstone Seam Binding and Chloe Lace were combined here to hold the mini Memories journaling cards. I added the Kraft die cut on the right side with a fine tip glue pen.

The "summer" letters are about the size of Scrabble tiles.

The add-in on the right is actually a legal sized envelope that just fit perfectly with the theme of the journal. I cut off one end and then punched out the half circle at the top for cards and keepsakes to go inside.

You can see the backside of the envelope peeking out in this picture on the left. I love pink, and this doily has a sparkle to it (not evident here) that added some spunk to the sweet rose journaling paper. 

The last two pages I want to show are more like a signature piece. The typewriter page is actually cardstock from a Prima paper pack. I collect old typewriters, and always have to get a typewriter in my journals somewhere! So while the color doesn't match exactly, I love having this page in there. It is embellished with the beautiful Rosemary Natural Crocheted Lace. You can see another glassine bag that holds the post card laying on top, and the inside back cover behind it. All of my pages and layers, lace and ribbons are adhered with Scor-Tape. I find it to be the best holding, and fastest to apply.

I hope you have enjoyed this walk through some of my journal pages in this Mini Junk Journal!

• TRD Etsy shop: http://bit.ly/tsunamirose
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Just For You - A Shaving Cream Background!

It's so much fun to make backgrounds with shaving cream! It's making a comeback! You can find all sorts of tutorials using this technique on YouTube. I didn't want to cover up too much of the pretty background, so I used vellum to hold my embossed sentiment and embellishments. 

I used Cindy White Crocheted Lace and a few 8mm White Flat Backed Pearls to hold down the vellum. The pink Tea Rose finishes it off and pulls out the pinks (my favorite color) in the background. Everything is adhered with Scor-Tape.

If you haven't tried this background, I hope you will. It's a ton of fun, and always a surprise!

Watercolor Rainbows and A Touch of Gold

Hello Friends! Today I have a watercolor background to share:

We had a beautiful full rainbow over our Capitol last week, and it just inspired me to create a rainbow background. I used my Kuretake paints on watercolor paper. When it was dry, I stamped my sentiment (The {Stamps} of Life) in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. 

Since gold is associated with rainbows, I used Metallic Gold Baker's Twine from Really Reasonable Ribbon, and wrapped it several times around my card, fanning it out. I then tied all the pieces together with a half bow and added some sequins (Pretty Posh) for sparkle! All of my layers are held together with Scor-Tape and Foam Tabs.

That's it for me today! Thanks for stopping by!

• Crafts Galore Encore - Always Anything Goes
• Creative Ladybirds Creations - Always Anything Goes
• One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes

Crinkled Seam Binding

Hey friends! Today I want to share a simple watercolored card. You can't go wrong with a watercolor background and a beautiful sentiment. Add in some gorgeous seam binding and it's a done deal!

My background was made using Kuretake paints on water color paper. I added a couple of color layers inbetween dry times, and then stamped my sentiment (The Stamps of Life) with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. 

To crinkle up my seam binding, I spritz it with water and then ball it up in my hand and place the ball into the corner of a plastic bag. Twist the plastic bag tightly around the ball. Leave the seam binding ball in the bag overnight. The next morning, remove the seam binding from the bag and fluff the ball out. Let it dry thoroughly. Pretty easy!

This is the beautiful Bay Leaf Seam Binding from Really Reasonable Ribbon tied in a double bow at an angle across the card for interest. I added a Resin Flower on top of the knots. I also tucked in a half-doily (Stampin' Up!) under the bows. My layers are held together with 1/2" Scor-Tape on this card.

Monochrome Magic- ANYTHING GOES
Addicted to Stamps and More- ANYTHING GOES

Shimmery & Sparkly Oxides

We have a new challenge today at Really Reasonable Ribbon! Show us your summer themed projects! On a hot summer day (like today for us here in Nebraska!) lemonade is the perfect way to cool off!

My background is made with two watercolored Distressed Oxide inks, and then I sprayed a mist of Gold Glimmermist (Tattered Angels) over the dry panel. I love the shimmer of that spray. I hope you can see some of it in the photo below. I wanted the card as sparkly as possible to match the sentiment (The Stamps of Life). I like the contrast of the two hearts -- one has sparkle and one does not.

My lemon and hearts are K & Co. stickers that I have had FOREVER. You can find the beautiful Peony ribbon in the June Ribbon Club from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Creates and Makes #12 – Anything Goes w/optional Use Yellow
TTCRD – Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #181 – Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart #163 – Anything Goes
Use Your Stuff #267 – Use Warm Summer Colors
Glitter N Sparkle #243 – Use Bright Colors

Monoprinting

I love monoprinting! It's rather a freeing technique for someone like me - who likes to control everything - as you aren't sure what you will get! This card was made using Mini Ferns (TCW) stencil, Liquitex paint, my brayer, and some of my goodies from the new Stamp of Approval box I got this week.

The "WISHES" was stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black and then quickly embossed with WOW! Clear Embossing Powder. It helps to make it stand out against the paint background. What do you think?

613 Avenue Create #198 – Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #286/287 – Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge #6 – Anything Goes
Brown Sugar #254 – Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends #45 – Anything Goes
Crafty Catz #374 – Anything Goes; Use dies or punches
Creative Fingers #132 – Anything Goes
Jo’s Scrap Shack #192 – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft #45 – Anything Goes
A Perfect Time to Craft #6 – Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
Create & Inspire #63 – Anything Goes